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Capturing the Weight

When you have a weighing scale connected to your computer, the scale display control on the data entry form provides a live reading of the measured weight of an item that is placed on the scale, so that you can obtain an accurate reading before printing. You can add a Capture/Redo button to your scale display control to capture the weight manually, or you can opt to have BarTender automatically capture the weight for you. After you've captured the weight, you are ready to print, either manually or automatically.

For more information on printing, refer to Printing the Weight.

Using the Capture/Redo Button

If you want to verify the weight of each object after it has been placed on the scale to ensure that you have captured a stable weight, you can use the manual Capture/Redo button. This button can be added to your scale display control from the Scale Appearance dialog.

ClosedTo add a Capture/Redo button to your scale display control

  1. Double-click the control to open the Scale Display Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the control's context menu.

  2. In the left Navigation Pane, select Scale to open the Scale property page.

  3. Click at the right of Appearance to open the Scale Appearance dialog.

  4. Under Scale Toolbar Options, click Show "Capture/Redo" button.

  5. Click the icon to the right of the option, and then click Yes on the dropdown list.

  6. Click OK to close the Scale Appearance dialog.

  7. Click Close to close the Scale Display Properties dialog.

A Capture button now appears directly under the scale display control. When you click it, it changes into a Redo button, which gives you the option to recapture the weight before printing.

ClosedTo use the Capture/Redo button to capture stable weight

  1. Place the item to be weighed on the scale.

  2. The scale display control displays the weight. When you are satisfied with the weight, click the Capture button. The weight is copied to the data source that is linked to the scale display control, and the Capture button changes into a Redo button.

    If you want to recapture the weight after you have already clicked the Capture button, simply click the Redo button. The Redo button will change back into a Capture button, and BarTender will recalculate the weight. When you are satisfied with the stable weight reading, click Capture again.

Even though clicking the Capture button places a static weight value into a linked data source, the scale display will continue to show a live reading from the scale. This means that the displayed weight value and the value placed into the linked data source may not be identical. You can eliminate this potential confusion by enabling the Show Captured Weight option in the Text Display Options of the Scale Appearance dialog. This causes a string of text to appear under the scale display, which shows the same captured weight value as is placed into the linked data source when you click the Capture button.

Using Automatic Weight Capture

You can configure your scale display control to automatically capture stable weight. After automatic weight capture, you can either use the Capture/Redo button to confirm the weight and print manually or configure BarTender to print automatically.

Closed To configure automatic weight capture

  1. Double-click the control to open the Scale Display Properties dialog. Alternatively, select Properties from the control's context menu.

  2. In the left Navigation Pane, select Scale to open the Scale property page.

  3. Click to enable Capture stable weight automatically.

  4. Click Close to close the Scale Display Properties dialog.

The factors that determine whether a weight is “stable” depend on the capabilities of your scale and on the Control Method setting on the Advanced tab of the Scale Properties dialog.

Using the Capture/Redo button with Automatic Weight Capture

The scale display control supports the use of the Capture/Redo button even when you have specified that you want the weight captured automatically. To configure this option, use the Scale Appearance dialog to add a Capture button to your scale display control and configure automatic weight capture, as seen in the procedures above.

At print-time, the scale display control will automatically capture the weight, and the Capture button will become a Redo button. If you decide that the weight needs to be recaptured, you can click the Redo button, at which time the stable weight will be recaptured automatically.

You will not be able to take advantage of this option if you have enabled automatic printing by using the Print after capture setting on the Scale property page. When this setting is enabled, your document prints immediately after the weight is captured, and there is no opportunity to click the Redo button.

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